Printing presses employed in lithographic printing are widely used and employ so-called printing blankets which are fastened around the periphery of an associated printing cylinder for the purpose of picking up an ink design or image deposited thereon by an inking roller and such design or image is transferred onto an article being printed. A commonly used technique for holding a printing blanket in position on an associated printing cylinder is to employ printing blanket holding bars which are fastened to opposite ends of the blanket. However, during the process of printing the holding bars and their associated blanket wear and/or are often damaged whereby they must be replaced.
Printing blanket stock for a particular press is often provided on an associated supply roll thereof whereby the size thereof is known; however, the holding bars must be measured to assure that replacement bars will function in the printing press. It would be a simple matter to measure the holding bars if the printing blankets with worn or damaged holding bars attached were to be removed from the press and taken to a measuring station or laboratory for measurement employing the usual measuring instruments. However, often times such procedure is too time consuming and it is preferred that decisions regarding replacement holding bars be made at the press.